>> oh, yes. this is "world news" tonight. hurricane sandy. everyone tracking the hurricane moving north from the caribbean. a storm watch in florida tonight. and is the east coast about to live through a very soggy halloween? the scramble. the moveable voter in the presidential campaign, now look like this. the romney campaign wrestles tonight on the line for women. proof of heaven? a brain scientist who says he now has proof that he's been to heaven. and the mystery monkey nabbed tonight, after eluding every for years. the furry fugitive spotted in backyards. sneaking around the corner. what did he do that finally gave him away?

good evening. as we come on the air, all eyes are on hurricane sandy bearing down on jamaica right now and forcing florida to study the radar. a storm watch already in place. electrical companies on the east coast are taking precautions and millions of parents are wondering if this means a blustery halloween. what are the chances that this storm will hit the east coast? abc's senior weather editor sam champion tracking it for us tonight. >> reporter: hurricane sandy is pounding jamaica tonight with punishing 80-mile-an-hour winds and more than a foot of heavy rain. residents and tourists are hunkering down. after jamaica, the 18th named storm of the season will cut across cuba and the bahamas before expanding in size as it blows towards the south florida coast friday morning. tonight, there are already tropical storm watches there.

but, where sandy goes next is a bit of an october surprise. it was last october when another storm system dumped more than a foot of snow on halloween. many kids were forced to trick-or-treat in malls, as their communities struggled with widespread power outages. east coast power companies are already gearing up for sandy. another thing to keep in mind -- conditions this year are similar to october 1991, the year of the "perfect storm," when a hurricane combined with a huge cold weather system, the resulting storm killed 12 people and caused $200 million in damages. when a tropical system combines with a cold system we call it an atmospheric bomb. and that's what happened in 1991. it may happen again later this week. let me show you this drop in the jet stream here, this very cold air moving down in the middle of the country. if you follow that, and that's a big strong push of cold air, it opens up the jet stream on the eastern seaboard. allowing a window for sandy to

run near the coast. the other option, if that air is shallow then sandy shoots toward the eastern atlantic. >> okay, sam, show me these models on what the probability it is it will hit the east coast? >> you can see that it's a compelling watch on that eastern seaboard. as of yesterday, most of the models were leaning out to the atlantic. as of today, they turned this storm system by the end of the week into the corridor toward new york and boston. >> great to have you with us. thank you. now, we move on to something else that millions of americans are watching tonight. the red-hot race for the white house. our new abc news/washington post poll out today shows the two men deadlocked. governor romney on top by a hair tonight. so, which group of voters could still break this tie? and why was the republican camp scrambling on a hot-button issue today? 13 days until americans go to the polls. it's your voice your vote.

and abc's david muir is in the battleground state of iowa tonight. david? >> reporter: diane, good evening. the women's right to choose. is the hot-button issue. it's front and center in the news because what a senate candidate said in a debate. he was just endorsed by mitt romney. >> reporter: tonight they are words that have caused a firestorm - from a senate candidate who just days ago put up this ad, an endorsement from mitt romney. >> this fall i'm supporting richard mourdock for senate. >> reporter: now that senate candidate, reigniting a flashpoint -- when asked in a debate if he supported abortion in cases of rape, he said this -- >> i came to realize that life is a gift from god and i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something that god intended to happen. >> reporter: within hours, the romney campaign trying to distance itself, saying those comments don't reflect romney's views.

but, word today that romney would continue to support him. for mitt romney, it complicates his final push to appeal to more women voters. president obama leads among women. but among white, married middle-class women, romney is ahead by more than 20 points in our newest poll tonight. increasing that number could key the victory. romney speaking of women on the trail today in nevada -- >> i think of the single mom right now raising a child or two or three, so that she could put a good meal on the table. >> reporter: and in the debate, a more moderate tone that might appeal more to women. >> we want a peaceful planet. >> reporter: a tone that might but, on the delicate issue of abortion, shifting tone, more challenging -- >> do i believe the supreme court should overturn roe v. wade? yes i do. >> reporter: then, just this month, he told the "des moines register" this -- >> there's no legislation with regards to abortion that i'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda. >> reporter: the president calling these moderate views an issue of trust, today in iowa -- >> you can choose to turn back the clock 50 years on women and

immigrants and gays or, in this election, you can stand up for the kind of america that we embrace everybody. >> reporter: and tonight, the obama campaign out with its first ad featuring michelle obama. an effort to reassure voters, among them women, hoping they'll stick with the president. the obama campaign tried to accomplish two goals with that new ad with michelle obama, they're trying to reach those women who might be considering mitt romney, trying to bring them back to president obama. meantime here tonight, mitt romney will be here in iowa, moments from now, he'll end the night in the key battleground state of ohio. no surprise there. >> thank you, david, on the campaign trail in iowa tonight. and let's turn now to white house correspondent jake tapper on the plane trips, the crowds, and the duel for the biggest turnouts in the most crucial space. sflr the pace of the president's travel is frenetic. >> this is the first stop on our

48-hour fly-around campaign marathon extravaganza. we're going to pull an all-nighter, no sleep. >> reporter: from washington, d.c., to davenport, iowa, to denver, colorado, next he heads to los angeles to tape jay leno followed by a night rally with katy perry. the president overnights at 30,000 feet. logging more than 4500 flight miles total in just one day. romney has been trying to convince voters in the same basic eight battleground states that he has momentum. >> these debates have supercharged our campaign. no question about it. we're seeing more and more enthusiasm. more and more support. >> but so far the momentum that romney has described hasn't been enough to trump the simple math of this race. that even though polls show the race for popular vote may be a dead heat, the electoral map is in the president's favor. take a look. if the president picks up just three battlegrounds, ohio, iowa

and wisconsin, he wins. what's more, he's also ahead in battlegrounds of iowa and new hampshire. now, look at romney, these are traditionally republican states, the ones he's expected to keep, he's also slightly ahead in battleground states of colorado, nevada, but even if he wins all four, it's not enough. obama still wins the electoral college. one key point on this, diane, while president obama is ahead in many of these battleground state polls he's still not crossed the 50% threshold. in most, remains as much undecided voters that either candidate can win. >> all right, thank you so much, jake. now, we turn to the news tonight about the terror attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. six weeks ago costing four americans their lives including ambassador chris stevens. we have learned the name of a tunisian man taken into custody.

he's 28 yeerts old. the white house weighed in on e-mails sent while the attack was under way. the e-mails informed them that a radical islamic group was claiming responsibilities. but secretary of state hillary clinton said those e-mails weren't hard evidence and all of the incoming information had to be value waited. and back here at home, attention, shoppers, a large-scale credit card theft is sweeping 63 stores. it happened at the nation's largest bookstore, barnes and noble. how did thieves get into the checkout machines? abc's senior justice correspondent pierre thomas has been investigating that today. >> reporter: today, barnes and noble announced it has been the victim of a massive, sophisticated scheme targeting credit and debit cards. thieves went after these tiny devices known as pin pads we routinely use to swipe our credit and debit cards for purchases. 63 stores in nine states were hit, potentially affecting thousands of customers. each time a purchase was made the pin pad beamed the

customer's private financial information to the crooks. the crooks could then withdraw money from bank accounts and make unauthorized credit purchases. >> i think it's really scary. >> i'm worried. >> reporter: we went to stores today in new york and california and the pin pad devices were gone. barnes and noble was so concerned it took the pin pads out of all its 700 stores nationwide. tonight, it's unclear how the thievs infiltrated the stores. what is clear is the ominous potential for the thieves to run up thousands of dollars in purchases, ruin credit and even steal customer identities. >> they now have to monitor credit reports, they have to monitor their bank statements. >> reporter: authorities now warn they're expecting more scams like this, targeting other stores. pierre thomas, abc news, new york. now, we turn to a different kind of security breach at one of the nation's largest airports, jfk here in new york. a brazen and bizarre incident this summer, a jet skier who hopped a fence and exposed

security problems. abc's jim avila spoke to him in an abc news exclusive. >> reporter: america's airports aren't as secured as the public might think. from rogue pilots climbing the fence at st. george, utah, driving a jet into the terminal. or this 2010 wild ride at dallas' lovefield. >> what's the protocol of something like this. >> reporter: perhaps the jaw-dropper of all security breakdowns came on an august night. at the water-logged hands of a marooned water skier off of jfk in new york. >> i walked right across without any type of problem. i didn't get seen. >> reporter: danny wasn't out to expose anything. but when his jet ski broke down, forcing him to swim to shore, only to land end up on an airport security fence, he thought surely that he would be spotted and saved. >> the whole intention was to make myself seen. >> reporter: his next move

jumping that fence, showed everybody, even the best airports with tens of millions of money spent on security plans can fail in dramatic fashion. >> i thought, again, now i'm over the fence. i'm in the airport. they're going to help me. nothing. >> reporter: he walked across one taxiway. finally stumbling cold and disoriented into delta terminal 3. danny was arrested. ultimately convicted of misdemeanor trespassing. the port authority said that it's increased patrols and demanded an explanation from its security firm. an effort dramatically to improve the system's functionality. >> i definitely think it's time to look at perimeter security. these are early warning signs. >> reporter: jfk, at least, now made more secured because of a lost jet skier. jim avila, abc news, new york. and coming up here -- a

harvard-trained scientist creating a stir tonight. who says he has real proof that he's been to heaven. and what he says he saw there and who. next. before copd...

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he says he has been to heaven. he can prove it, and he's returned with a message for us all. "nightline" anchor terry moran tells us his story. >> reporter: at the alexander home in lynchburg, virginia, grace is different now. eben alexander is a harvard neurosurgeon who nearly died four years ago when a ferocious e. coli meningitis infection attacked his brain and plunged him deep into a coma for a week. brain scans showed that all of the parts of his brain that make us conscious, thought, memory and understanding, were not functioning. >> they should be a very rich network of them all through both sides, and yet we don't really see that because they're all filled with thoughts. >> reporter: doctors gave him up for dead, but after a week, eben alexander awoke, he says, with a wondrous memory. did you go to heaven? >> yes. i was rescued by this beautiful spinning white light that had a

melody, indescribably beautiful melody with it that opened up into a bright valley. >> reporter: god was there, he says, as a vast presence of love, and eben says there was a young woman who soared across heaven with him on a butterfly wing and who gave him a message to take back. >> the concepts came straight into my mind. "you are loved. you are cherished. there's nothing you have to fear. there's nothing you can do wrong." >> reporter: and that woman, after he recovered, eben saw a picture of his long, dead sister who he had never met, it was her. >> it was the most profound experience i've ever had in this life. >> reporter: a lot of people are going to say, "doctor, it was a hallucination." >> i know this was not a hallucination. it really occurred, and i know it occurred outside of my brain. >> reporter: many of his colleagues in neuroscience are deeply skeptical, saying his

brain must have produced those visions, perhaps as he awakened, but alexander says it's incompatible with the random confusion of a brain rebooting. he's now on a mission to share his story. >> our soul, our consciousness, our spirit doesn't depend on the existence of the brain and body at all. >> reporter: after he came out of his coma before he talked to anyone else about his near-death experience, eben alexander wrote down everything that he could remember, 20,000 words. he described in detail that young woman on that butterfly wing. it was not until he saw the picture of his dead sister, he says, it was her. quite a story. >> so are a lot of colleagues contending with him, challenging him on the science? >> a lot of his colleagues are challenging him on the science. but he invites that. he says, let's get at it. let's have a discussion on how i could have had this experience. >> so much to fascinate us. and we want everybody to know that terry will have

a lot more of his reporting tonight on "nightline." thank you, terry. and coming up here, can you guess which member of your family really ensured the success of the human race? are you sure you know? stick around for the surprising answer. our "instant index" is next. our "instant index" is next. but i want to eat meat! [ male announcer ] iams knows dogs love meat. ...but most dry foods add plant protein, like gluten iams never adds gluten. iams adds 50% more animal protein, [ dog 2 ] look at me! i'm a lean, mean flying machine [ dog 1 ] i am too! woo hoo! [ male announcer ] iams. with 50% more animal protein. [ dog 2 ] i'm an iams dog for life. not a rabbit. woof! starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. tomato, obviously.

haha. there's more than that though, there's a kick to it. wahlalalalallala! smooth, but crisp. it's kind of like drinking a food that's a drink, or a drink that's a food, woooooh! [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. could've had a v8. [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. very sore looking kinda blistery. it was like a red rash... like somebody had set a bag of hot charcoal on my neck. i was a firefighter for 24 years. but, i have never encountered such a burning sensation until i had the shingles. i remember it well. i was in the back yard doing yard work. i had this irritation going on in my lower neck. i changed shirts because i thought there was something in the collar of the shirt irritating my neck. and i couldn't figure out what was going on. i had no idea it came from chickenpox. i always thought shingles was associated with people... a lot older than myself.

i can tell you from experience, it is bad. it's something you never want to encounter. for more of the inside story, visit shinglesinfo.com nyquil (stuffy): just reading whatyour label.ing? wait! you relieve nasal congestion? tylenol: sure. don't you? tylenol (another bottle): hmmm...no... nyquil (stuffy): dude! anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. and now, our "instant index." people and pictures that captured our imagination. tonight, new ways of looking at the world around us. starting with this -- a new picture of our interga lat tick

zip code, our milky way. 84 million stars in this one picture. including some familiar ones. the constellation sagittarius and scorpius. and the video in the news, the grand canyon about to be photographed as never before thanks to this. a 40-pound backpack with 15 cameras inside, invented by google, to help us see the canyon through a superhuman eye. the panoramic images will be uploaded later this year. and this shot of stonehenge. taken by a kind of tricycle with nine cameras onboard. and our people in the news, well, maybe we cracked the code on why the human species won the evolution race, and in one word, grandma. today, a leading british medical journal said that having grandmothers enabled

mothers to hunt for more nourishing food and to have more children knowing someone would help take care of them. a human shout-out to grandma, thank you tonight. and we really do want to hear from you. tell us which pictures, people, quotes, studies, captured your imagination. every day. tell us online at abcnews.com. coming up next -- the real-life curious george on the run for three years and nine months. how they got him. and the whole town cheering their monkey hero tonight. hole town cheering their monkey hero tonight. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles military families face, we understand. at usaa, we know military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ]

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finally, tonight, a kind of furry folk hero who beguiled people in tampa for almost four years, the mystery monkey of tampa bay captured tonight. but still one of the smartest monkeys and fugitives experts have ever seen. so, what was his achilles paw? abc's steve osunsami on the mystery monkey. in from the cold. >> reporter: this was one

slippery monkey, who kept escaping the clutches of authorities. living the life. swinging through trees traveling more than 100 miles. >> we know that he's been hanging around the tampa area for roughly three years. we have been chasing him for three years. >> reporter: at first families were frightened. then they started cheering him on. and a legend was born. this monkey has songs in his name. once announced that he was running for mayor on twitter and just told nearly 90,000 facebook fans today that my freedom has been taken away from me. authorities think that he may be a lost pet and finally tracked him to this neighborhood in st. petersburg. they set up a trap and filled it with bananas. he got in and out of the thing twice. with bananas in hand. but today, on his third try, authorities were waiting and busted out of the bushes with tranquilizers in hand. he looks tired.

>> he's sleeping it off. >> reporter: florida authorities promise that he won't be harmed. >> we'll check him for anything that may lead to he belongs to somebody. >> reporter: after years on the run, he needs a home and a friend. steve osunsami, abc news, atlanta. and we thank you so much for watching tonight. besure to check in with us at abcnews.com. we're also here. "nightline" later with terry moran and heaven. and we'll see you again back here tomorrow night. good night. tonight the city of oakland rededicates the plaza in time for a new round of occupy demonstrations.. >> hear from a police officer who blew the whistle on comrades. now, he claims he was forced out for exposing a fraud. >> fbi joints a hunt for hackers at a major bookstore

chain. several stores were hit. tonight your credit could be at risk. >> from at and t park security measures now being taken for game one of the world series. >> remember these scenes? frank ogowa plaza, home to one of the biggest occupy movements had a face lift tonight. it may be occupied again, and soon. good evening. >> city leaders are touting the transformation, demonstrators are planning a new takeover for tomorrow. abc 7, or thursday, rather, laura anthony is live for us. laura? >> hi, carolyn. police told me today they have a variety of plans ready. they will be ready for anything that may or may not happen here tomorrow evening. in the meantime, oakland city